Three feared dead in North Sea helicopter crash

RESCUE crews were last night searching for three people feared dead after the helicopter they were travelling in ditched in the North Sea.

April 2009, 16 people died when a Super Puma EC332 plunged into the sea after its gearbox failed

The 15 others on board the Super Puma L2, which went down on its approach to Sumburgh Airport, Shetland, just before 6.30pm, were rescued.

Police, who declared the emergency a major incident, described the survivors as walking wounded although one was taken into a waiting ambulance on a stretcher.

The aircraft, used to transport oil crews to rigs and platforms in the North Sea was operated by Canadian-owned CHC, one of the world’s biggest helicopter companies.

The model involved in last night’s incident is an L2 variant of the Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma, which had been flying into Sumburgh at the time it lost contact with Air Traffic Control. It is a different model to the EC225 recently returned to service after grounding over safety concerns.

The RNLI said Aith and Lerwick lifeboats were launched and the Northlink ferry Hjaltland, travelling between Orkney and Aberdeen, was diverted to the scene.

The ferry was later stood down and continued on its journey. Late last night rescuers said they had found two empty life rafts.

It is believed the helicopter, with 16 passengers and two crew on board, ditched less than a mile south-west of Garths Ness and last night there were reports of wreckage washing ashore.

In a phone call to a friend one survivor said: “The helicopter just dropped, we had no time to brace. It just rolled when it hit the water.”

A spokesman for operators CHC said: “We can confirm that there has been an incident involving one of our aircraft in the North Sea, approximately two miles off Sumburgh.

Exact details of the incident, which happened at approximately 6.20pm, are not known. The appropriate authorities have been informed and the company’s Incident Management Team is being mobilised.”

Experts from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch were last night on their way to the scene.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Maritime and Coastguard Agency are co-ordinating the search and rescue operation following a helicopter having gone down shortly before 6.30pm.

“A total of 18 people were reported to be on board the helicopter, which went down two miles off the coast of Sumburgh. The search is currently ongoing involving a number of agencies, co-ordinated by MCA, and so far 15 people have been uplifted to Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick.

The helicopter just dropped, we had no time to brace. It just rolled when it hit the water

A survivor

“Sumburgh Airport is currently closed to deal with the incident.”

This is the fifth serious helicopter incident in the North Sea in the past four years. In October last year all 19 people on board were rescued around 32 miles south of Shetland when a CHC Super Puma EC225 ditched while carrying workers from Aberdeen to the West Phoenix drilling rig.

In May 2012, all 14 passengers and crew on a Super Puma EC225 helicopter on a flight from Aberdeen Airport to a platform in the North Sea were rescued after it ditched 30 miles off the coast. The ditching was caused by a faulty warning light indicating there was a problem with the gearbox.

In April 2009, 16 people died when a Super Puma EC332 plunged into the sea after its gearbox failed. Six weeks earlier, a Bond Super Puma with 18 people on board ditched in the North Sea, with all brought ashore safely.

The Super Puma EC225s were taken out of service after incidents off Aberdeen and Shetland last year but returned to operational duties this month. Earlier this year it was announced that a fatal accident inquiry is to be held in October into the April 2009 crash.